SPOR TS OF THE DAILY:
The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, May 21, 1980-Page 15
SportSE
Rockies
DENVER (AP) - The Colorado
Rockies fired Coach Don Cherry
yesterday after one year on the job.
Armand Pohan, owner and president of
the National Hockey League team, said
the young Rockies need a coach who is
not "a one-man band" and "will devote
his full energies to coaching and
teaching."
Pohan confirmed that the Rockies
have been talking to Herb Brooks, the
Minnesota-based coach of the U.S.
Olympic gold-medal hockey team,
about the now vacant coaching job with
the Rockies.
"We hope to have further discussions
with Herb Brooks," Pohan said.
CHERRY JOINED the Rockies last
The Spori
fire popular coach Cherry
May after the team finished last in the Three 'M ' thincbids Debbie Williams. Both havenexcelled
year-long in the throwing events, Neer
NHL with a 15-3-12 record. Their i . T. 1in the shot put and discus, Williams in
record only was slightly better this past to vie i Nationals both these and the javelin. Last year,
season, 19-49-13, hutoaverage By K. ANTHONY GLINKE Williams placed sixth at Nationals in
attendance at Rockies' home games Frsmtedea oe rebt thejvln
nearly doubled to close to 10.0 For some, the dream comes true hut e javelin.
'oc 1once. For most, it never occurs. Period. For Weaver, Neer, and Williams, the
Cherry, who had coached the Boston At the end of an arduous season, it is the National meet means the end of a
Bruins for five years before coming to final mile, the last putt, the jump that thousand puts, a thousand javelin
Denver, was widely credited with matters most. After months of early deliveries, and a thousand miles one
increasing interest in hockey in morning workouts, pulled muscles and step at a time.
Denver. time spent on the road to and from
The Rocky Mountain News conducted meets, the Nationals represent an end. Ialiana l
Tent y oll ng res ondcl i This year, Michigan's women thin- will attend Gabes
decently a poll asking readers to call inclads will be represented by three of ROME (AP)-The Italian National
and say whether Cherry should be their own at the National meet starting Olympic Committee rebuffed the pro-
retained. The results: 3,025 wanted him today in Eugene, Oregon. All three boycott stance of its government and
to stay, 58 wanted him to go. have established themselves as bona voted yesterday to attend this
fide stars. summer's Moscow Games, leaving
FRESHPERSON Melanie Weaver three major U.S. allies still to make
e ehas been nothing short of superlative in their decisions.
Sn i- w her first season. Despite a poor Big Ten The Olympic committees of Japan,
showing, she has consistently wracked Australia and Israel, like Italy, all have
up firsts and seconds in her specialty, their governments leaning hard on
Ungusc" ee_,thwae tr nasnnnimock nn- " ti i ti- " in
Memo from a bleacher bum..
'. .Box seat owner-sit on it!'
By JON MORELAND
When I told my editor about my plan to use my complimentary press
pass to sit in the centerfield bleachers at the Tiger game, he thought I was
crazy. "But Jon, those seats are reserved, right behind third base. Why
would you want to go out and sit in the bleachers?"
The editor just couldn't understand why I would want to fight a crowd of
bleacher bums for a seat 500 feet from home plate that doesn't even have a
back on it.
Well, it was a little hassle getting back to the bleachers from the press
gate, but not too bad. We found a guard in left field who, if we helped him
meet his quota of scorecard sales, would let us go out to center.
Once we got to the bleachers, we met our friends, who entered by way of
the bleacher gate, and found four seats together out in left center field, half-.
way up in the upper deck.
It was crowded and we were squeezed together almost as tightly as at
the Michigan-Ohio State football game. That's okay, though. The crowd is
what makes the bleachers the best place to be at a baseball game.
The price of a ticket is still just $2 if you sit in center field, attractive to
anyone's income (except those lucky guys who can get through the gate for
free). It is this low price that results in a melting pot of fans from all over the
Detroit area.
Despite their obvious differences, the bleacherites have a lot in com-
mon. They're all baseball fans, Big Tiger fans. You probably can't find a
more knowledgeable cross-section of baseball experts anywhere.
They get frustrated when the Tigers lose, and they each have their own
ideas about baseball strategy and procedures. Offithe 12,000 or so bleacher
fans, you would probably get about 11,900 different sets of answers .to
questions about things like the Ron LeFlore trade and the Tigers' starting
pitching rotation.
The bums are easily amused, and can be excited by just about anything.
The simple pleasure of a beachball being batted around the upper deck is
enough to keep the fans wildly entertained for almost an entire inning. But
don't hit the ball over the barrier, onto the field. You'll be booed mercilessly,
and worse, be bombarded by a slew of wadded-uppaper cups.
This harmless bombarding doesn't last long, however. It lasts just un-
tilthe crowd finds something else to divert its attention. Hopefully for the guy
being bombarded, the Tigers will be batting, and the bums findsa new target
for their paper cups-the enemy centerfielder retrieving the-errant beach-
ball.
The bleacherites aren't especially hospitable to visiting teams. Almost
anything the other teams do is enough to draw the wrath of Tiger Stadium's
resident experts. Whether they think the other team's manager is making
too many trips to the mound or if they don't like the way their centerfielder
tied his shoe, it's enough to launch the bleacherites into a chorus of
"Baltimore sucks, Baltimore sucks," or whoever else is in town.
The bums will dish out a lot of verbal guff, but they don't want to see
anyone get hurt. The luckiest guy in the crowd was the one who tossed the
smoke bomb about 15 rows in front of him. Had his exact identity been
known, he would have been mobbed and tossed over the back wall.
The bums don't need problems like that. They have enough problems
away from the park. They're just out to the park, and to have a good time,
and maybe if they're lucky, see the Tigers win.
It is this attitude that makes the bleacher ticket one of the best bargains
in baseball. I can think of only one thing better in sports than spending $2 and
sitting in the bleachers-sitting in the bleachers compliments of Tiger
General Manager Jim Campbell.
the long distance events. Weaver has Mem Lo announennpriiaini
run in everything from 1500 meters on the Games because of the Soviet
up, all with panache. Union's intervention in Afghanistan.
From the field events on this year's The deadline for filing entries. is this
team are sophomores Penny Neer and
Saturday.
MAJOR LEAGUE ROUNDUP
Tribe shuts out Bi rds
John Denny hurled a four-hitter for ning slugging heroics by the Phillies'
his first American League shutout as Mike Schmidt and Greg Luzinski, who
the Cleveland Indians blanked the smashed back-to-back home runs.
Baltimore Orioles, 4-0, in the first game Schmidt and Luzinski share the major
of a twinight doubleheader yesterday. league home run lead with 10.
Denny, 3-4, struck out five and IN ANOTHER NL game, 40-year-old
walked two in recording his first Phil Niekro tossed his 36th career
shutout since last Aug. 9, when he pit- shutout as Atlanta stopped Montreal's
ched for the St. Louis Cardinals. six-game winning streak, 1-0.
IN OTHER American League action, Elsewhere, Houston took on New
Jim Dwyer's seventh-inning home run York, St. Louis was at Los Angeles, and
lifted Boston past Toronto, 4-3; Min- Chicago traveled to San Francisco. The
nesota faced Chicago, Oakland visited Pittsburgh-San Diego game was rained
Kansas City, California was at Texas, out and will be played as part of a
Seattle entertained Milwaukee and doubleheader this evening.
Detroit hosted New York (see page 16
for details).TONIGHT
In the National League, Cincinnati
edged Philadelphia, 7-6, behind Dave
Collins' key two-run single in the sixth
inning. The hit extended Collins' con-
secutive game hitting streak to 15.
Collins' effort helped offset first-in-
Bre jers Yogurt
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